New York-based beauty products company Coty Inc. offered Tuesday to acquire Bourjois, a cosmetics brand owned by French fashion giant Chanel, for up to $240 million in shares. The two companies confirmed that they were in exclusive negotiations on a binding transaction, which Reuters reports will see privately owned Chanel take a 4.2 percent stake in Coty.
Joh. A. Benckiser, the investment holding company of Germany’s dynastic Reimann family, owns a majority stake in Coty, which raised $1 billion in an initial public offering last year. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher capital markets cochairman Andrew Fabens took the lead for Coty on that offering, which securities filings show generated $3.6 million in legal fees and expenses. The firm also worked with Coty on its acquisition of nail care company OPI and a $1 billion bid to buy Phoenix-based skin care and cosmetics company Philosophy from private equity firm The Carlyle Group in 2010.
